RE: Big guns on small ships

At 10:12 16/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Additionally in WWI the British light cruiser Audacious was fitted with
>15" guns and was planned to have an 18"(yes...18") before it was
changed
>and turned into the first air craft carrier.Granted there was less
>difference in size between a light cruiser and dreadnought in those
>days.

Not quite- the three "large light cruisers" were Courageous, Glorious
(4x15-inch in twin turrets) and Furious (intended to have 2 single
18-inch,
but completed with a single 18-inch aft and a flying-off deck forward). 
All
were converted to full aircraft carriers.  These were _big_ ships, about
800
feet long and 20-odd thousand tons, very distinct from contemporary
light
cruisers of 5000 to 7000 tons.	I think Audacious was a dreadnought, and
the
first capital ship lost in WW1. 

Wasn't one of our (UK) WW1 monitors sunk in the Med. in a surface
action?

Rob

"Rob Paul

Dept of Zoology
Oxford University
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